Sunday 27 May 2012
Supermarkets
The introduction of a supermarket adjudicator in today’s Queen’s Speech has been welcomed by farming unions, but they warned major improvements to last year’s draft Bill were needed. The adjudicator has support from all the main political parties to ensure that the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP) is working properly....
British Retail Consortium Food Director, Andrew Opie has said that proposals for a supermarket adjudicator will make no difference because few farmers deal directly with the supermarkets. The Government is preparing to announce the adjudicator in the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday. A report released by the BRC has said farmers are benefit...
A supermarket watchdog is expected to be introduced in the Queen’s Speech which will take place next Wednesday. Members of the Grocery Market Action Group have led decade long campaigns to protect farmers and growers from what Andrew George MP, who chairs the group, describes as the "bully boy behaviour of supermarket buyers". ...
A report launched today names Asda, Morrisons and Iceland as the "worst offenders" for undermining parents’ efforts to feed their children healthily. The Children’s Food Campaign’s report highlights the junk food that is displayed in four out of five checkouts in their stores. Co-Op, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Wa...
A new report has backed up calls for an effective adjudicator to police the UK Groceries Supply Chain Code of Practice. It concludes that the international reach of some major retail chains means wider EU measures have to be considered to ensure fair play for farmers and consumers. Development organisation Traidcraft, the NFU and EU farm or...
GM Freeze today said farmers should be very wary of Morrisons’ switch to GM feed in poultry. The company’s announcement that it will now allow poultry producers to use feed for their flocks containing GM ingredients could lead to a drop in prices farmers receive from the supermarket in the medium term and a loss of market to non-GM prod...
Morrisons Chief Executive Dalton Philips will set out plans on Wednesday for the food retailer to become the UK’s largest fresh food manufacturer. Mr Philips will outline the goal at the company’s 2nd Farming Conference, where it will meet with more than 350 farmers and suppliers in the agricultural community. New plans include a...
A Kent-based fresh produce importer has been fined ’2,700 after marketing two separate consignments of Spanish tomatoes and cucumbers which were deemed not fit for human consumption. Fortuna Frutos (UK) Limited, of Paddock Wood, admitted two separate breaches of EC marketing standards for fresh horticultural produce in Birmingham Magistra...
Morrisons will highlight the Scottish provenance of meat, fruit and vegetables through displays in store from this week. The display notices in Morrisons stores across the country will draw attention to Scottish products, allowing customers to learn more about where their food come from and the farmers behind it. It is part of Morrisons&rsq...
The United Fresh Foundation is celebrating a successful collaboration with Produce for Kids and Publix Super Markets that raised funds to donate salad bars to 39 schools in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee through the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools initiative. The largest single produce industry contribution to Let’s Move S...
Andrew George, MP for West Cornwall, St. Ives and Isles of Scilly, is today renewing his calls for the Government to stop ’wasting time’ in creating a supermarket watchdog that will regulate big supermarket chains and protect the interests of producers and consumers. The need for a supermarket watchdog was made clear in the Competi...
National charity CPRE publishes a new report into the economic and social value of local food to Ledbury just days before a crunch council meeting to decide on a major out-of-town supermarket application.’ ’ In the latest of its ’From field to fork’ reports, the Campaign to Protect Rural England published a detailed repo...
In a first for a major supermarket, eggs used as ingredients in all of Sainsbury’s own-brand foods now come from cage-free hens. From the basics range to the premium Taste the Difference lines, all products containing eggs are now cage-free, a move affecting 1,600 products, three million hens and an amazing 800 million eggs. The move to b...
The MP who chairs the national Grocery Market Action Group (GMAG) Andrew George, has today called on the Government to make the final big push to create a supermarket watchdog by including it in the Queen’s Speech, if not before. Mr George said: "The call for a supermarket watchdog has cross-party support and there can be no excuses for fu...
Poultry experts from Bristol University, funded by The Morrisons Farming Programme, examined health challenges facing the modern free range laying hen and identified where they think improvements could be made. The report suggested verandas for the birds and the early scrutiny of eggshells, which can reveal signs of stress and health problems...
The UK’s most famous and successful member-owned and run social enterprise, The People’s Supermarket (TPS), has today announced that it is currently reviewing plans to support the opening of an upcoming store in Cardiff. Plans for ’Siop y Bobl’, Welsh for ’The People’s Shop’, are being coordinated by si...
The UK, at present, is less than 60% self-sufficient in food but with a growing population, estimated to increase by 15% by 2026, our self-sufficiency will be less than 50% by then if farmers aren’t encouraged to increase food production. That was the clear message to Governments from Meurig Raymond, NFU Deputy President, speaking to Pembroke...
The MP who chairs the national Grocery Market Action Group (GMAG) Andrew George, has today used a debate in the House of Commons to again call on the Government to ’waste no more time’ creating a supermarket watchdog to protect the interests of consumers and suppliers. During the debate Mr George highlighted that the Competition Com...
The idea that supermarket special-offers cause a large amount of food waste has been exposed as a myth by a new, Government-backed report. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is highlighting research conducted by waste reduction body WRAP which found that, while just under half of shoppers (44 per cent) think buying food on offer leads to a grea...
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